97 Reviews

Traveller Rating

Review Overview

The hotel was small compared to most on the Costa Brava and this contributed to the warm, family-run feel of the hotel even though it is part of a large group.
The staff, from the management to the restaurant staff to the cleaners were all extremely friendly and helpful - they could not do enough for us.
Being quite small, there was only limited entertainment and a relatively limited selection at meal times but the food was excellent and I really could not fault it, nor the overall experience.
A great value holiday.

Cleanliness:

Food:

Service:

Location:

Entertainment:

Travel operator:
Sunsave.com

Hotel tip:
The hotel provided excellent value for money. May be worth considering paying a little extra for a pool/sea view although we did not do this and the room was fine.

Recommended

Jimd-f

Yet another visit

4 years 5 months ago

I am just back from another visit to this hotel. It is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this hotel feels like a small family hotel. It is only 3 stories high. It is a cheap and cheerful 3* hotel.

This hotel is situated on the main street, opposite the beach, with the railway line running between the road and the beach. It is in one of the best locations in Malgrat.
On arrival, at around 9.30am the check-in was very quick, but we were told our rooms were not ready (as expected) but to put our cases in the baggage room, they have separate rooms for arrivals and departures- and return to get our A/I cards and room keys at 12.00.
A quick trip to the Crown and Anchor for breakfast, where you get a decent meal at a realistic price was worthwhile.
Our rooms were very clean but at the back of the hotel. The TV (with ITV and BBC4), toilet and a/c all worked fine. There was a fridge in the room but I forgot to ask how much they charged for it. No hairdryer in the rooms. You no longer need to leave a deposit on the remote for the TV, just ask for one at reception if they do not give you one on check-in.
They now offer Wi-Fi at â‚¬5 per day with discount for the week as well as the 2 (although 1 always seemed to break down) computers in reception.
The rooms and hotel in general were all kept very clean, with maids working all hours.

One of the best features of this hotel is the very green outdoor area at the front of the hotel. There are various plants and trees on the patio which provide very welcome shade. The pool is not huge, but was adequate for the hotel.
The food was well cooked and there was the usual variety. You did get different types of potato not just chips. Most of the meat and fish dishes were cooked with veg and used very cheap cuts of meat. You could not fault the actual cooking the standard was very good, but the very bony/fatty meat was not really very good. However, the fresh fish was excellent every day.

The coffee from the machines is still lousy, but if you choose cortado that probably is the least offensive. It is also worth paying for a coffee at the bar as that is much better quality than the free stuff.

The bar was fine with the usual daily cocktail and the staff were friendly, as usual.
HTOP have introduced a silly system where you get a separate card from the normal AI card which you are supposed to hand over when you get a drink, and you get this card back when you return your glass!!!!! If you lose this I was told you don’t get any more drinks without paying. I can understand them trying to cut out the amount of waste and the stock piling of drinks, but this system is just stupid and time consuming.

Thankfully we are well known to all the staff so never saw this card after getting our first drink.
Note; the AI card no longer shows your photo on the card but when they scan it at the till they can see your photo. This may give you problems if you are part of a group/family when visiting other hotels if you inadvertently try to use the wrong card.

The only problem with this hotel is that the size of the bar where they have the entertainment is very small, although you can see and hear from the patio. The entertainment itself was nothing special with the usual mix of karaoke, quiz, bingo and live music.
I thought this was an excellent break in a clean hotel, and for the money paid it was great value.

Cleanliness:

Food:

Service:

Location:

Entertainment:

Travel operator:
Ferris

Recommended

Jayne

Deserves 1*

5 years 2 months ago

AVOID!!!! I do not expect 5* for 3* money but was hoping for something better than barely 1*. It’s difficult to know where to start? I booked and paid for a four bedded family room, arrived late at night to find they only had a 3 bedded room available. The Receptionist was rude, uninterested and couldn’t care less! I had booked through Hotels4u, part of the Thomas Cook so expected that they would sort it out. Wrong!! They were appalling, they advertise 24 hour support, this is a lie, we arrived on a Saturday night and there was nothing other than duty cover who cannot take any action so no one was available until Monday morning.

The first night I had no bed, the second night when Hotels4u still did nothing I insisted the hotel squeeze an extra bed into a room designed for 2 beds. Only one person could stand up at a time! The hotel is tired, scruffy and dated, the rooms are extremely small. The beds and bed linen were damp, the shower is a joke, and the only mirror had no plug socket anywhere near it so good luck if you are hoping to dry your hair! The balcony doesn’t really deserve that title; only one person could stand out there at a time!

Throughout my stay I requested many times to speak to the Manager, who didn’t put in an appearance throughout my stay. Hotels4u would not move us to a different hotel so we were stuck there. If I had not been travelling with my children I would have come home after the first night, I endured this hotel solely for my children’s sake!

This hotel functions around numerous pointless rules, designed to undermine any enjoyment you may be hoping for as you are supposed to be on holiday!

The Pool is barely any bigger than a paddling pool, the hotel caters for several hundred guests yet there are 30 sunbeds around the pool. The pool area is not unlocked until 9am so if you want to sit out early, forget it. If you like to sit outside with a cup of coffee before 10am forget it as you cannot take any drinks outside before 10am.

The food was appalling, I have never been to a 3* hotel where I won’t eat the food. It was bland, repetitive and tasteless. You are not allowed to take any food, snacks or drinks outside of the restaurant. I am not fussy, I am happy to eat just a salad, or whatever but this food was awful. Barely any salad, rice and vegetables were hardly cooked, the meat was vile. The dining room was nowhere near big enough for the number of people staying at the hotel.

The All Inclusive system for getting drinks is a joke. On arrival you are given an ID card and a green plastic card which you hand in every time you want a drink. You then take the plastic beaker back to get the green card returned. You can only get one drink at a time, in a plastic cup!!! If you are a man who drinks pints, forget it! The entertainment was so bad; there isn’t much to say about it. Most evenings there was a mini disco for the kids, held in a room not much bigger than a cupboard! If you buy a can of drink out of the vending machines in reception you can only drink them in your room? Why??

Yes the hotel is 50 yards from the beach, what the brochure forgets to mention is between the hotel and the beach is the mainline railway.
Overall, I do not understand how this hotel obtained its 3 star status, it is nowhere near.

This hotel is small and shabby run by small minded people. The most entertaining part was hearing new arrivals moan and shout about how bad it was!! There are many three star hotels out there in the same price bracket where you would have an enjoyable break, avoid the Planamar at all costs. You have been warned!!

Cleanliness:

Location:

Entertainment:

Jimd-f

Great value

6 years ago

I am just back from another visit to this hotel.
It is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this hotel feels like a small family hotel. It is only 3 stories high. I think that that you end up with as fellow guests has more to do with how your holiday is perceived than anything this hotel does. Yes it is a cheap and cheerful 3* hotel but if you have a few families rather than 100 European school kids, your holiday experience will certainly be better.

This hotel is situated on the main street, opposite the beach, with the railway line running between the road and the beach. It is in one of the best locations in Malgrat.

On arrival, at around 10am the check-in was very quick, but we were told our rooms were not ready (as expected) but to put our cases in the baggage room they have separate rooms for arrivals and departures- and return to get our A/I cards and room keys at 11.30.

Our rooms were very clean with a sea view. The rooms at the back of the hotel do seem larger than most of those at the front.

The TV (with BBC1), toilet and a/c all worked fine. There was a fridge in the room but I forgot to ask how much they charged for it. No hairdryer in the rooms. You no longer need to leave a deposit on the remote for the TV, just ask for one at reception if they do not give you one on check-in.

The rooms and hotel in general were all kept very clean, with maids working all hours.

One of the best features of this hotel is the very green outdoor area at the front of the hotel. There are various plants and trees on the patio which provide very welcome shade. The pool is not huge, but was adequate for the hotel.

The food was well cooked and there was the usual variety. The one thing I did notice was that there were more vegetables available than I’ve seen in other hotels and that you did get different types of potato not just chips. Most of the meat and fish dishes were cooked with veg and used very cheap cuts of meat. You could not fault the actual cooking the standard was very good, but the very bony/fatty meat was not really very good. However, the fresh fish was excellent every day. The AI snacks were the same all the time ham and cheese sandwiches, crisps and cake; although I do believe that more is provided in peak season.

The bar was fine with the usual daily cocktail and the staff were friendly enough and treated us very well; so well in fact that we got proper glasses to drink from at night instead of the plastic ones.

The hotel have introduced a silly system where you get a separate card from the normal AI photocard which you are supposed to hand over when you get a drink, and you get this card back when you return your glass. If you lose this I was told you don’t get any more drinks without paying. I can understand them trying to cut out the amount of waste and the stock piling of drinks, but this system is just stupid, time consuming for all and unworkable. Thankfully we are well known to all the staff so never saw this card after getting our first drink.
The only problem with this hotel is that the size of the bar where they have the entertainment is very small, although you can see and hear from the patio. The entertainment itself was nothing special with the usual mix of karaoke, quiz, bingo and live music.

With regard to the noise nuisance etc that keeps being reported, beyond the normal night noise after the bar shut I heard nothing at all on any night and saw nothing to cause me any anxiety throughout my stay.

I thought this was an excellent break in a clean hotel, and for the money paid it was great value.

Cleanliness:

Food:

Service:

Location:

Entertainment:

Recommended

Marj

Not s great start, but got better

6 years 1 month ago

We arrived after 11 at night to a sombre man on the desk, he was ok just not the happiest person. We had our keys in 3 mins but hated the room, hidden behind trees so went down to complain he said they were full.

In the morning I saw a lovely lady who spoke good English and she moved us as soon as the room we asked for was emptied at 10 am. It was a large room on top floor perfect view of sea and front of hotel.

The hotel had a good pool, a garden area, the rooms are spotless and as long as you allow them to enter its cleaned every day. The staff are great very friendly and can’t do enough to help.

The animation team are good and full of fun. There are things to do most days and entertainers every night.

The food a little bland but you won’t starve.(its Spain remember ) We had a lovely time in the hotel. We will defiantly be going back next year. A little hint if you leave the air conditioning on low at night it drowns the sounds from other people out and aids sleep.

This hotel is one of the worst of its kind attracting cheap holiday makers, mainly yobbos who get drunk from the minute they arrive until they leave. It is not suitable for kids, mature families or couples.

The food is basic. repetitive and of low quality. We had one of the best rooms in the hotel overlooking the swimming pool, but the rest of the rooms faced inland and onto other hotels, buildings.

They accommodated all the parties were numerous fights took place over noise and disturbances. To get to the beach, you have to cross the main road and a railway line. Be advised & give it a miss.

Good location right in the heart of the town, near beach. Food not great but you will survive. Entertainment is very poor, but they try. All inclusive drinks are weak to say the least go down the road to royal sun for full strength drinks (free with you all inclusive card)

Rooms at back of hotel are larger than the ones at the front. Pool not big but ok for size of hotel. Market at back of hotel on a Thursday.

Cleanliness:

Food:

Service:

Location:

Entertainment:

Babs Finnie

7 years 3 months ago

Just returned back from the Planamar yesterday. We went as a family last minute with my husband 16 year old son and 12 year old daughter. On arrival we had to wait around as they did not have any record of us being there. Once that was all sorted out we were quickly allocated our room. Our room was fine apart from the fact it was really small for 4 people we were practically tripping over each other, so be warned I would say 3 is enough in these rooms. Personally having gone all inclusive before I prefer the wrist bands as you dont have to go hunting for your card everytime you want a drink. The room we had was relatively clean, certainly nothing I would moan about. Location of this hotel was excellent as you basically walked out the hotel onto shops, bars and restaurants. The pool was a decent enough size although possibly really busy July and August we never had a problem getting loungers. They have a no towel policy which was great as every morning after breakfast there were always free loungers. The staff could possibly have been a tad more welcoming but they were helpful enough. We spent one of our days at Htop Royal Star in Lloret de mar difference was night and day regards the food. Food at the Planamar is not great at all, I did not think there was any value in booking the AI. Unless you want to eat chips n gravy all week then pay a bit more for the 4* Royal Star. The food was the most cheapest meats available with more bone than meat it was also really cold all the time. There were snacks which were packets of sandwiches with ham and cheese but they were left sitting all afternoon at the side of the bar so were warm and very tasteless. I have been AI a few times and always had my free Sangria but the Planamar could not make up their minds whether you paid for is or it was within your AI (In the hotel description it read free locally produced drink) Eh how locally produced can you get for goodness sake Sangria is the drink of Spain!!!! Entertainment was absolute rubbish. 2 nights they had singers on the rest of the time it was just a disco. There was a Scottish bar down at the actual train station and the atmosphere in there was fabby. Would I recommend the Planamar? No, not for food and entertainment the hotel needs to up the anti there. Best thing this hotel has going for it is the fact it has a fantastic location.

Cleanliness:

Food:

Service:

Location:

Entertainment:

Travel operator:
Sun4u

Patricia Brown

7 years 3 months ago

This hotel was rated 3* but it was more like 2* the breakfast was good but lunch and dinner left a lot to desire, pork and chicken and when I say chicken I mean wings, and if they did not make enough it was tough luck, and the salad bar consisted of lettuce and tomato very poor, and worsed of all was the time your card ran out was 12.00 and we did not leave hotel until 6:60 we have never experienced this before, every other all inclusive was exactly that until you left, would not recommend to anyone and we are experienced all inclusive 5 years and this is the worse one yet.

Cleanliness:

Food:

Service:

Location:

Entertainment:

Travel operator:
Barrhead

Jimd-f

7 years 4 months ago

I’m just back from a 6 day break at this hotel. This is my fourth visit.

Welcome to Holiday Truths

By registering, you agree to us sending personalised emails offering holiday advice and travel deals from our travel partners. By clicking Continue, I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Statement.